Some NGOs and associations defending the rights of migrants affirm that Spain has violated international law by returning to Senegal the 168 people rescued last Thursday by the Civil Guard off the coast of Mauritania, after this African country refused to accept them. The Spanish Commission for Aid to Refugees (CEAR) considers that this return, as it is a collective return, violates the international treaties signed by Spain on human rights and does not respect the right of migrants to be cared for individually, with help of an interpreter, and apply for asylum. The ship is already heading to Senegal and is scheduled to arrive on the morning of this Wednesday, the 30th.
“The Ministry of the Interior must immediately stop this return,” says Estrella Galán, director of CEAR, who adds that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) establishes that “any return must be offered individualized treatment and people must be informed in their mother tongue with an interpreter and legal assistance. The organizations argue that it is not credible that Spain has offered migrants the legal assistance required in this case in terms of the right to asylum because, in the five days that have passed since the rescue, the situation that has been experienced on deck has It has been very tense and the guards have had to dedicate themselves to attending to the most basic needs of the migrants and trying to calm their spirits.
Sources from the Ministry of the Interior have limited themselves to responding by asking for “rigor and seriousness” and urging not to send “irresponsible messages that can endanger the lives of those rescued,” reports Patricia Ortega Dolz. “The priority of the Civil Guard, which rescued and saved the lives of 168 migrants at sea, and which is making an enormous effort, is to resolve a complicated situation to bring the migrants to a safe harbor,” these sources remark, who assure that “the law has been complied with at all times”, although they do not clarify whether the right of these people to request asylum was guaranteed.
Sources from the rescue operation emphasize that “it is not a return but a rescue operation.” “There is a Law of the Sea that is above everything and that imposes a rescue/salvage at the moment in which there is a vital risk to people. In this case, 168 were rescued in a patrol boat in which they literally do not fit, and which sails at four knots in difficult sea conditions. You had to look for the nearest port to assume the least possible risk of shipwreck. An attempt was made in Noadibú, but it failed. And then in Saint Louis, Senegal, where they did accept. If it had been safer to go to the Canary Islands, he would have gone to the Canary Islands”, these sources affirm. Interior sources stated, however, on the first day that taking the migrants to the Canary Islands was not an option that was on the table.
The patrolman of the Civil Guard tagus river, in which in addition to the 168 people rescued there are thirty civil guards, has already been at sea for five days and it is estimated that it will arrive at Saint Louis, in the northwest of Senegal, a border country with Mauritania at dawn on the 30th. During these days, the conditions of the people on board, including minors, have been extreme, having to defecate in buckets and with serious feeding problems, as reported by the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC).
🗞️[COMUNICADO]
CEAR demands that the transfer to Senegal of the migrants rescued by the Río Tajo ship be stopped immediately, since they are under Spanish jurisdiction and the authorities must guarantee their human rights.https://t.co/s5VtgqiiPl
— CEAR (@CEARefugio) August 29, 2023
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For CEAR, the definitive resolution to return the migrants to Senegal, from where it is estimated that the cayuco that was transporting them left, is a mistake. Sources from this NGO warn that Senegal is not a safe country due to the instability it is experiencing, and that thousands of people have been detained there in recent months for demonstrating against the Government. The main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, has been in jail since the end of July, accused of calling for insurrection and plotting against the state, and his party, Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef ), has been dissolved by the Government. “Returning Senegalese or other nationalities to this country could be a serious violation,” says Galán.
Along the same lines, Extranjeristas en Red, an association that brings together immigration lawyers and that has placed all the responsibility on the Ministry of the Interior and, especially, on its owner, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has also spoken out. In a statement, the association describes the entire process as “one more page in the history of infamy in migration management” by Grande-Marlaska, and regrets that, “once again, it has deprived the interest in returning and expelling” above that of “complying with the law and human rights”.
Mauritania’s refusal to receive migrants has occurred despite the fact that this country has received more than 10 million euros a year from Spain since 2009 to help control irregular immigration. Both countries have been partners in immigration matters since 2006 and have signed several collaboration agreements. The Spanish government maintains that this rejection of the African country falls within the “specific procedural differences” that “do not cloud the relations and cooperation” that Spain maintains with Mauritania, according to the Executive spokeswoman, Isabel Rodríguez, at a press conference. this Tuesday.
According to CEAR, however, this case “is a new example” of the “risk” posed to human rights by the policy of externalizing borders and reaching agreements with third countries to curb migratory flows. “Mauritania has become a strategic partner in recent years to stop the arrivals of migrants to Spain and Europe, at the expense of human rights,” CEAR asserts. The organization has requested that the immigration policy be modified, enabling legal and safe routes.
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